MIGRAIN: Industries - Ownership and control

 1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Meta, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner. If you were absent or didn't have time in the lesson to make these notes, research any one of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost.

Alphabet - Bought companies such as YouTube and have expanded from a search engine into also production.

Warner Bros began as distributors and started eventually producing their own media products.

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate. 

 I partly agree conglomerates are becoming very powerful because they control 90 percent of the market and can easily have a influence on young people through the immense amount of media control they have. I partly disagree with this statement because the audience give power to the conglomerates.

Media Magazine reading and questions

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

1) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

Production is creating the media product then promoting the product to make target audiences aware of its creation. Distribution is the process of delivering the media product to the viewer for them to consume.

2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

 Sony sales through the hardware. BBC has a license. ITV has fees from advertisers.

3) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them. 

Disney is expanding out of its simple animation movies. They have expanded to things such as Disneyland theme parks. Spotify is free for consumers however ads will play in between without the paid version. Marvel is heavily into the superhero genre and provides mainstream values to the audience.

4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution? 

The audience's demand for 3D movies have heavily increased so industries have starting investing in that.

5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions? 

Amazon create and distribute their own shows and have expanded. Google is in charge of YouTube and controls how people view media products.

6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive? 

Yes, the new generation does not consume traditional media products and is moving onto new things.

7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape? 

Diversification and vertical integration helps conglomerates with establishing themselves to a much wider audience.

8) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

 I believe their control within both audiences and conglomerates. This is because without consumers buying their products the conglomerates would not maintain control. The audience also have a important say on media trends.